Tally of pot houses hits 20

Saturday

Sep 23, 2006 at 12:22 AM

STOCKTON - Three more newly built north Stockton homes converted for use in marijuana growing operations were raided Friday by police. That makes 20 in two weeks in an investigation that may fall under federal control.

Ellen Thompson

STOCKTON - Three more newly built north Stockton homes converted for use in marijuana growing operations were raided Friday by police. That makes 20 in two weeks in an investigation that may fall under federal control.

Similarities in the real estate deals among the raided homes persist, and investigators said Friday they are beginning to look at those transactions as the scope of the investigation broadens.

In the three-, four- and five-bedroom houses raided Friday, no marijuana plants were found on the premises, but the living spaces were being retrofitted in preparation for growing operations, police said. The houses, at 3313 Granite Court, 3205 Tenaya Lane and 5926 Rayanna Drive, were being set up in a similar manner to the homes where marijuana was found, police said. The listed owners also were familiar names from earlier raids this week.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gordon Taylor is investigating 21 similar pot houses in Elk Grove and Sacramento for the DEA's Sacramento office.

"We're trying to follow the money," he said.

Taylor said he expects to hear next week whether the U.S. Attorney's Office is interested in prosecuting the four men arrested Sept. 13 in Stockton. If so, the DEA is likely to take over the investigation, he said.

DEA agents assisting in Stockton this week said the Internal Revenue Service also is investigating.

Stockton police Officer Pete Smith said police have begun to look at the real estate transactions in Stockton. He did not have any details.

All 20 houses discovered so far sold from May to July in deals that sellers and listing agents recall as speedy. According to search results from the real estate listing software Win2Data, all the homes were fully financed with two mortgages.

On seven occasions, a listed owner's name appeared on more than one of the deeds.

One agent, Bay Area Realtor Dickson Hung, handled almost all the sales for the buyers.

Hung did not return repeated phone calls and e-mails for comment this week, including calls made Friday.

Lawrence Lau, a licensed agent with Coldwell Banker Peninsula's South San Francisco office, represented the buyers in the sale of a home at 10511 Big Oak Circle that was raided by police Wednesday. Lau said Dickson Hung handled the deal, and he agreed to lend his name to it.

"He told me it was a conflict of interest to represent that buyer, so I let him use my name," Lau said in a phone interview Friday.

Lau said he knew Hung sold about 20 homes in a short period this summer.

Two other buyers' representatives who Realtors said worked on house sales also were associates of Hung at those two agencies.

Taylor said once the criminal investigation is over, the government is not likely to seize the pot houses because there is little equity in the homes.

JPMorgan Chase holds the mortgages on four of the 20 homes. Spokesman Tom Kelly said banks do not get involved until a debtor misses a payment.

"Their obligation is to keep paying their monthly payment," he said. "We don't know what's happening with the house."

Kelly said the mortgage holder generally gets the first right to a property when an owner defaults on the loan. BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp. and GreenPoint Mortgage Corp. also hold several of the loans on the 20 houses.

Police said Friday they would not be surprised if more homes are raided in Stockton.